'Be Less Scottish': Simon Pegg Told To Tone Down Accent For Star Trek Film

He is one of Britain's biggest and brightest exports and the obvious choice to play Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the new Star Trek movies - but Simon Pegg has been told to tone down his accent so Americans can understand him.

The Shaun of the Dead star appears in the 2009 Star Trek film and has reprised the role - made famous by James Doohan - for the sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, which is due for release in May.

He plays the USS Enterprise's engineer and used his Scottish family links to perfect the accent and inspire the role - but director JJ Abrams has told him to "be less Scottish" so he can be understood across the Pond.

Simon Pegg was asked to tone down his Scottish accent in his role as Scotty in Star Trek Into Darkness (Splash News)

"Scotty is very Scottish. Because I’ve got Scottish family, JJ lets me put Scotishisms into the script," he told a Star Trek magazine.

"But one day he came up to me on the set and said, ‘Simon, we have to understand what you are saying.’ So I pulled it back a little bit."

And he wasn't the only one on set with dialogue issues - Zoe Saldana who plays Uhura said she struggled with the script because Spanish is her first language.

Speaking to Empire magazine, she said: "[JJ Abrams] writes these mouthfuls of dialogue and it's hard for me because Spanish is my first language. So there were moments, at least once a day, where we'd have to cut and he was like, 'Zoe, it's not traject-ory, it's traj-ECT-ory.' Or he'd say, 'That was great, but this next take, say it all 30 per cent faster!' It was a trip.''

Zoe Saldana also revealed that she had dialogue issues in her role as Uhura (Splash News)

Simon is joined in the sequel by fellow Brit Benedict Cumberbatch who plays villain John Harrison, and Pegg revealed a bit about the character.

"It’s a modern take on terrorism in a way. It looks at why Benedict is doing what he’s doing. There are motives that make you think he’s not a bad guy and alliances form.

"All the time we’re being puppeteered by this John Harrison, even Kirk falls for it. He manipulates us as much as the audience."

Star Trek Into Darkness is released in the UK on May 9, a week earlier than the US! Watch the latest trailer here: